Tuesday, 30 July 2013

MY FAVOURITE MOVIES - BATMAN & ROBIN {YES, REALLY!}

Now I know what you're thinking and no, the men in white coats have not been informed just yet, I say yet. Whilst this film has been dubbed one of the worst films ever made {and in all honesty it is], allow me to give you my honest review, and also express why I love this zany, farcical, campy superhero film of my favourite superhero, Batman.

Now I am a huge Batman fan, having seen all the films and a fan of the video games too I have seen the good {The Dark Knight}, the bad {Batman Returns} and the ugly {Batman & Robin}. I even enjoyed the very campy 60s Batman series with Adam West playing the caped crusader. This film is directed by Joel Schumacher and he took over from Tim Burton whose last Batman film was Batman Returns, a film I didn't enjoy at all as I felt as good as Danny DeVito was as The Penguin, it didn't have the "fun" factor and was disappointing to me. However, Schumacher's first film in this series was Batman Forever, a much more kid friendly film and I thoroughly enjoyed it especially the performances by Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones {The Riddler & Two Face/Harvey Dent}and whilst this film is very campy and filled with one-liners, I enjoyed it a lot and consider it one of my favourite Batman films.

I will be very fair in my review and point out the bad points of the film, and by that I mean in a general film making sense. This film was considered a huge flop in a box office sense. I always found the decision to name George Clooney as Batman to be terrible. I feel he is not a "believable" Batman and true to form he proved a huge disappointment and seemed to look like he didn't want to be in the film at all, and to be honest who could blame him! Chris O'Donnell returns as Robin and within the first minutes of the film, the one-liners are on show with Robin telling Batman "I want a car!...chicks dig the car!". To which Batman responds with the gem that is "this is why superman works alone!.." O...K then.

There is less of Alfred in this film and the actor playing him {Michael Gough} must be physic as he must have known how bad this film was going to be so decided to agree to his small role! This film is FULL and I mean FULL of one-liners that to many will drive them insane, but to many others {including myself}, prove to be the best part of this entire film! The director and writers of the film have clearly no idea how to write a decent plot as very little in this film makes any sense. Now are Clooney and O'Donnell the worst actors in the film, nope and not even by a LONG shot, enter Mr Freeze and Poison Ivy {played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Uma Thurman}. Wow, just wow. Freeze and Poison Ivy's plan to take over first Gotham City, and then the world, is so silly and campy that it defies belief but the two actors involved make it so silly that you just accept it and go along for the ride! Mr Freeze's dialogue consists of one-liners only it seems, such gems like "The iceman cometh!", "What killed the dinosaurs?...the ice age!" and the corniness that is everybody just. Chill" I kid you not ladies and gentlemen. Uma Thurman is just as corny as Poison Ivy with a cartoonish performance which goes with the tone of the film, but you would never have guessed that this woman was once nominated for an OSCAR! Oh dear.. what a fall from grace!

The special effects are just awful too. Icicles wobble like they are made of plastic, oh wait, they ARE made of plastic! The whole tone of the film was to make it so unrealistic and market it as one big toy advert/commercial, which ironically is what contributed to its lack of success as it was put into production after the toys of the film came out, which explains a lot to be honest.

Also on a side note, to any fans of Bane, and especially those who like his portrayal in The Dark Knight Rises by Tom Hardy, were horrified when Batman & Robin came out as Bane was made to look like a complete fool, and even though I wasn't annoyed by Bane in this film, I can see why some comic book fans were upset by his portrayal.

So why after all the bad points that I have just noted before you today, do I love this film so much? Because it is so entertaining to watch! As a film in general, it is a disaster, but my word what a beautiful disaster it is. Not many films in your lifetime will have so many memorable moments than this one. Heck, I still quote Mr Freeze's epic lines from time to time! It is so outlandish and cartoonish that after a while you cannot help but enjoy the ride this film takes you on. It is truly one of the funniest, and quite frankly silliest, films I have ever seen and is one of my favourites of all time. I love The Dark Knight and consider it my all time favourite Batman film, but this, along with Batman Forever, are without doubt in a league of their own {not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing!}

My rating - {as a film in general} 2/10

{as a memorable and funny film} 9/10

I love this film even with all of it's flaws, and yes there's plenty of them!

Thanks again everyone for reading this review it means a lot to me. If you would like to share this review on other blog sites feel free, you can also +1 this on Google+, follow me on Twitter @MARRAMD, leave a comment below and share your thoughts on this film!

Question of the day - What is your favourite Batman film? also, feel free to tell us why :}

My next review will be uploaded very soon guys thank you for all the support!